How to Safely Restart Windows Explorer in Vista/Win 7

Lets face it, everyone has seen the explorer closing after putting the computer under cryogenics and leaving the user in a state of panic to save the current work. And the only remedy was to close the explorer process using Task Manager, which was not exactly an efficient way to do it because it left one with nothing but the desktop staring at the users face.



Thankfully, Microsoft have admitted (in a shy kind of way) to this and
have provided a “legal” and safe way to close the explorer.

The trick tucked-away in the Start menu of Windows Vista lets you restart Windows Explorer without hastily killing its process and potentially breaking your session.

The Trick
Open the Start menu.

Hold down the Control and Shift keys, and right-click on a blank space in the Start menu.

Choose “Exit Explorer.”

Open the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), navigate to File->Run, enter “explorer” and hit OK.

Why would you ever want to restart Explorer, you might ask? To try out new system modifications, for one, or try and rescue your desktop from crashing. In any case, the Geek’s method gives Explorer a chance to properly close down and protect against any strange occurrences down the road.

Thank You.